No Map. No Guide. No Limits.

One of the obvious but difficult to answer questions that all the great adventurers of the world pose for the rest of us is, “What drives them to do that?” Are the great explorers and adventurers braver than most? Or more foolish? Driven by ambition for fame? Or internal satisfaction? Even the adventurers themselves sometimes have a hard time answering the question, especially ones who aren’t predisposed to introspection. Or who didn’t live long enough to reflect with time and maturity on what their reasons and motivations might have been.

Amelia Earhart, it seems, could fit into both of those categories.
I’ve always resisted the general public’s adoration of Earhart, partly because I know of so many other extraordinary women pilots from that era who were every bit as adventurous or brave, and in some cases more skilled, but who weren’t married to consummate publicists with the funds to back their careers, images, or record-setting flights. Louise Thaden, Barbara London, Nancy Love, Beryl Markham … there were any number of them, all equally worthy of adoration, respect, and praise. The attention showered exclusively on Earhart seemed a bit unfair, overdone, and certainly not the entire picture of women in aviation in the 1920s and 30s.

But the public’s fascination with Amelia, and her romantically unsolved disappearance over the Pacific on her unsuccessful 1937 world flight, continues. Yet another movie about her (titled Amelia), starring Hillary Swank, is coming out at the end of October. And the movie’s upcoming release is prompting re-release of several books about Earhart, as well as numerous other articles, like Judith Thurman’s “Missing Woman” in this week’s New Yorker.

I found Thurman’s piece particularly intriguing because it reminded me that while Earhart may not have been more daring or talented than her contemporaries, she is still a fascinating study as an adventurer. And after reading the haigiography-free picture Thurman paints of Earhart, I was left with the thought that her unfinished world flight might actually be a fully appropriate coda to a life full of unfinished beginnings. [click to continue…]

Adventurers and explorers come in many forms and guises. The ones that first come to mind, of course, are the physical trailblazers: Admiral Byrd, Lewis and Clark, Edmund Hillary, and all the other daredevils who pushed toward the ends of the earth and the air and space beyond.
But exploration … and the obsession that sometimes accompanies, or at least often enables, that kind of successful quest … isn’t limited to geographical challenges. For exploration is a matter of  going beyond what is known; stepping out into the void beyond that in the hopes of bringing back new knowledge about what lies there. And no matter what that territory is, exploring it is always fraught with danger of one kind or another, because any unknown world is full of unexpected and unpredictable surprises. It comes with the territory, so to speak. And it takes a highly motivated individual to persevere in the face of all the unpredictable challenges and setbacks the process entails.
I found myself thinking about the various types of exploration, and the amount of dedication/obsession that’s required to succeed in a bold, exploratory quest, as I leafed through Bill Streever’s new book, Cold: Adventures in the World’s Frozen Places.
At first glance, it seemed like it might be a memoir of an Arctic explorer. And it is, in a way. But not of the physical arctic. It’s about the exploration of the conceptual arctic land known, in the scientific world, as “Frigor”—the strange and challenging realm of frozen spaces, elements, and phenomena.
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A recent article in the New York Times, called “On to Plan B: Starting a Business” explored the current trends in entrepreneurial activity. And while some of the conclusions were less than novel, some of the facts and information it contained were interesting.The Good News:

• The Kauffman Foundation Index of Entrepreneurial Activity showed a slight increase in new businesses formed in 2008, despite the recession.
• A just-released Ernst & Young report on Innovation noted that many companies with billion-dollar market capitalization, including Starbucks, Intuit and PetSmart, were started in a recession. Same goes for more than half the companies on both the 2009 Fortune 500 list and the Inc. magazine list.
• There are now a growing number of companies that cater to the needs of new businesses—such as unintentionalentrepreneur.com, LegalZoom, and Infostreet.
• Researchers and consultants all seem to agree (no surprise to us here at No Map. No Guide. No Limits.) that taking on the challenge of a new business venture sparks creative thinking and makes anyone who tries it “better, smarter, and more capable.”

The Bad News:

• Only 2/3 of all new businesses survive two years, and only 31% survive seven. (Although the good news is, those numbers are the same in good economic times or bad.)

That last fact is a bit daunting, of course. But if you look at the two lists, there’s much more good news than bad, when it comes to taking on the challenge of an uncharted, entrepreneurial venture. The bad news numbers just mean … at least in my mind … two things: [click to continue…]

One of my favorite passages from pilot/writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is found at the beginning of his memoir Wind, Sand and Stars. In 1926 Saint-Ex was learning to fly the airmail routes between Toulose, France and Dakar in French West Africa. As he rode the bus out to the airfield each morning before dawn, he’d watch it slowly fill with other passengers, and ponder the difference between their lives and his. His self-aggrandizement in the process is typical of young pilots, but Wind, Sand and Stars is no Topgun. Saint-Ex’s prose is elegant, and always makes me think. Even (especially) this rant aimed at the “petty bourgeois of Toulouse” with whom he shared the bus ride each morning:

“Nobody grasped you by the shoulder while there was still time. Now the clay of which you were shaped has dried and hardened, and naught in you will ever awaken the sleeping musician, the poet, the astronomer that possibly inhabited you in the beginning.”

While I’ve always loved Saint-Ex’s notion of never awakening something that has inhabited you from the start, I don’t believe you need to wait for someone else to “grasp you by the shoulder” to change your life. Recent research on the “neuroplasticity” of the brain indicates that it’s possible for us to change our own minds—quite literally. But what if we don’t?

I’m reading an interesting book right now called The DaVinci Method. It’s a surprisingly thought-provoking look at “the secret genius that drives risk-takers, rebels, entrepreneurs, artists, and AD/HDers to achieve greatness.”

The premise of Garret LoPorto’s manifesto is that “DaVincis” are the change-agents of society, and act the way they do because of their genes:

“DaVincis share a  common genetic polymorphism, the DRD4 exon III 7-repeat allele—a gene that supports risk-taking, novelty-seeking, increased alpha/theta brainwave patterns, susceptibility to addictive behavior, ADD/ADHD and bipolar, propensity for genius level problem solving and creativity, and gives one what it takes to be a charismatic political leader, rock star, inventor, movie-maker, artist or rebel billionaire.”

The book goes on to describe the DaVinci traits in great detail, and provides strategies for leveraging such a predisposition. The part I found most interesting, though, was not about what DaVincis are genetically capable of, but about what happens if they repress their natural gifts and inclinations. [click to continue…]

One of the toughest commodities to hold on to in the middle of any challenging endeavor is that of perspective. The mountain seems more insurmountable when you’re too close to it to see how far you’ve already come, and it’s hard to remember why you thought this adventure was a good idea when you’re smack dab in the middle of it and the tent has blown away and the flood waters are rising. Or, if the challenge isn’t one you chose, to remember that this, too, shall pass, and there might be gifts to be found even in hardship, and that you have company in your search for strength, even when you feel all alone.

So to unexpectedly stumble onto something that jolts you into seeing the bigger picture again is a gift, wherever you find it. The trigger might be the sight of a perfect star-filled sky, an encounter with someone far less fortunate than yourself, a friend reaching out to help you, or a stranger’s unexpected act of kindness.  Or … in some cases … stumbling onto the quiet wisdom of others who have had to struggle for courage and perspective in adventures and battles of their own.

Such is the gift and appeal of Leading from Within: Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Lead by Sam M. Intrator and Megan Scribner. The idea of the book is astoundingly simple. Intrator and Scribner asked a wide variety of people who have leadership roles of one kind or another … doctors, ministers, heads of non-profit organizations, CEOs, politicians, and activists … to submit a poem that was particularly helpful to them when they felt in need of perspective or courage, and then to write a few accompanying paragraphs explaining why. [click to continue…]

Continuing the discussion on some of the questions raised during Monday’s Midmorning show on Minnesota Public Radio ….

One of the tougher questions of the hour was raised by a caller who asked, “Why do so many people tell you that you won’t succeed when you say you want to make the leap to a new career or life venture?

In truth, I think the answer to that question (I answered “fear” at the time … see my piece in The Atlantic the next day, for more on that answer) … is tied in to two other questions that came up during the show: “Why do so many adults fear taking a risk or pursuing a dream?” And …”How do you cope with failure?”

First … there was a fascinating article in the New York Times this past Sunday that was relevant to the question of why adults don’t take pursue more risky ventures or dreams. The piece discussed the different way the brains of babies and young children work (as opposed to adults). Adults apparently focus more on objects that are the most relevant to their goals, while babies focus on objects that will teach them the most … partly because babies’ brains are more pliable, and open to many possibilities. Adults’ brains are less pliable. But, because they focus far more selectively on information that achieves a particular goal, they’re more efficient. [click to continue…]

How do you decide when a risk is worth it? Why do so many people tell you that you won’t succeed when you say you want to make the leap to a new career or life venture? Why do so many adults fear taking a risk or pursuing a dream? How do you cope with failure? How do you find a need for adventure at the age of 60?

Those were just some of the really interesting questions raised during my appearance yesterday on Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning show with Kerri Miller.  (If you missed it, you can listen to a recording on MPR’s site.)
All those questions are, of course, one of the reasons I founded No Map. No Guide. No Limits. … to provide a space where questions and issues like that can be discussed. And they’re not easy to answer. But a couple more thoughts on those questions here, beyond what I said on the show. More will follow later.

How do you decide a risk is worth it? If you’re unhappy where you are, but the path you’d like to take is uncertain, and most likely difficult … how do you decide if it’s worth taking? Or when the right time to take it is?

Deciding if a risk is worth it or not is, of course, a deeply personal decision. One of the most significant points of a hero’s journey is making the commitment to embark on it … significant because of all the agony and balancing and letting go that represents. And nobody can answer or decide that one for you. Not only because you’re the one who will endure the consequences of the decision, but because everyone has a uniquely calibrated scale when it comes to evaluating risk and reward. [click to continue…]

The last time I was in Minnesota—at least as a resident—was 15 years ago. But I’m going to be back there on Monday—or, at least, on the Minnesota airwaves!
On Monday August 17th, from 10:00-11:00 am Central Daylight Time (that’s 11 am-noon Eastern, 8-9 am Pacific), I’m going to be the guest on Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning show with host Kerri Miller. I’ll be talking about and taking questions on my book Surviving Uncertainty: Taking a Hero’s Journey. (Available as a free PDF download.)
The show is being aired live, and if you don’t live close enough to hear it over the radio, MPR will be streaming it from their Web site. (Be sure to press the triangular Play button on the audio player that pops up.)
If you can’t catch it in real-time, MPR will also have a podcast available after the show.
MPR Editor Bob Collins is also planning to live-blog the show on his very entertaining and informative blog.
So if you want to listen in or join in the discussion, or have questions you want to hear me answer live about the book, here’s your chance!
Catch you Monday from the shores of Lake Wobegon!

In my last post, I told you about Roz Savage, a woman who is—as we speak—rowing across the Pacific Ocean by herself. Well, I’ve been in touch with Roz’s Program Director, and she’s agreed to forward some questions that Roz will answer via email, one evening when she’s not, you know, rowing.
Ever wonder what goes through the mind of a hard core adventurer like Roz Savage? Have any questions for her you’d like the answer to? I have a bunch of my own, but I’d love your input too!
Post your question in a comment below, or send a quick email to me.  I’ll forward the best ones to Roz on Friday, and I’ll post her answers once they arrive.